


All about Us

by voices_in_my_head



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 52 weeks challenge, AU, Tattoo place, will this be the week I lose?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 00:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5723281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voices_in_my_head/pseuds/voices_in_my_head
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iwaizumi wants a tattoo, Kageyama works at a tattoo parlour and they meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All about Us

**Author's Note:**

> The challenge for week 2 was: A story about rising to a challenge, and I feel like doing a tattoo is rising to one so yeah, there you have it. I mention several tattos but I have no images for them; just imagine what you will.

Hajime was going to go through with it and no, it certainly had nothing to do with the fact that Tooru didn’t think he was capable of it. Well, perhaps it had a bit to do with it, but really, he was doing it because he wanted to. It was for himself.

And that was what he’d been telling himself for close to twenty minutes, standing outside a tattoo parlour. Anyway, they never made the tattoos when you came in the first time; it was just making the appointment. And even with that, he could always change his mind and simply not turn up on the day. All Hajime would lose would be some money in case they asked for a deposit, which he’d been told lots of places did. And yes, some pride too and Toorou would mock him for a long time – hopefully no longer than five years but with him you never him – but he could survive.

_Come on, you’re not a coward,_ he told himself. He’d been wanting a tattoo since he was sixteen and now at twenty-four he was finally ready. He had the design, which Matsu had done, he had the money, he’d chosen the place in his body and he’d finally found a tattoo shop that came highly recommended by a lot of people he knew, or people they knew and that they trusted.

He drew in a breath and finally walked in.

There was a man laying his head on his crossed arms on the front counter.

He looked up and Hajime was struck by the thought that those were the bluest eyes he had ever seen. And also, that the guy had piercings all over his face and the beginning of a tattoo peeking from his shirt.

“I was starting to think you would never come in,” the guy said in a strong voice.

Hajime opened his mouth to respond. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was going to say, but it probably wouldn’t be nice because seriously, who was this stranger to judge him? But said stranger kept talking, this time in an ashamed tone and much faster.

“I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have said that. You’re probably nervous. Everyone’s always nervous before entering a tattoo parlour. Unless they’ve done it twenty times. Which I’m guessing you haven’t since you didn’t enter… But it doesn’t matter!” Now he was waving his hands and usually Hajime didn’t like when people were all over the place, but this guy… it was clear that he was more embarrassed than anything else. “How many tattoos you have or not have is none of my business! It’s no one’s business! I-“

“It’s fine,” Hajime finally interrupted him, being sure that otherwise the guy would just have kept going and going.

He closed his mouth. “Sorry.”

“No problem,” he gave a shrug, “I was being a coward.”

“No!” The guy’s eyes bulged which made the piercings on his eyebrows go up and Hajime had a faint thought about whether that would stretch the holes or not. “Like I said, it’s… it’s a big decision making a tattoo. If that’s even what you want. We do piercings too.”

“I want a tattoo,” Hajime said in a clear tone and the guy nodded earnestly. It was weird to think that a guy with probably over a dozen piercings just on his face and ears alone could be called cute, but Hajime really couldn’t stop his brain from thinking that word over and over again.

“Of course! Do you know any of our artists?”

“No. But some friends recommended this place.”

“That’s great! Well, there’s my boss, Daichi-san, but he usually only makes very special pieces. We have three other artists: Daichi-san’s wife, Yui-san, who’s really good at artistic designs, with lots of colours and not very linear designs; Kozume-san, who started only two years ago but everyone loves him because he’s very careful and perfectionist and there’s Tadashi-san, who is also a bit of a perfectionist, but he’s really good with like, realistic stuff. It’s usually him that does the piercings too.”

“You’re not a tattooist?” Hajime asked and the guy laughed.

“No. I love them but… I’m not very good at drawing. I’m just the secretary.”

Hajime nodded. “So, who do you recommend?”

“I have to see the design first,” he immediately answered and then, once again with bulged eyes, started talking at a very fast pace, also again. Hajime was starting to see a pattern. “Unless you don’t want to! I know some people consider tattoos very personal which of course, they are, so if you don’t want to show it to a complete stranger, then that’s perfectly okay, but then again, you said you didn’t know the artists, so you’d still be showing… But it doesn’t matter!” He finished, once again moving his hands around.

Hajime shook his head and gave a little shrug. This guy had a bit of a dangerous look about him, he had to admit, or maybe it was just the cultural prejudices he’d been told all his life that was leading him to think that, but he really was nothing like that. Hajime quite liked him, to be truthful, and that hadn’t happened in a long time.

“Honestly, Iwa-chan. I thought you went in there to get a tattoo, not a crush! And it’s not even like you can just go back every week for something new… You’re not doing that, are you!?” He could just hear Tooru inside his head but he dispersed those words with a mental wave of his hand.

Instead of answering, he just took out a piece of paper from the back pocket of his jeans.

He unfolded it and showed the guy the drawing that Matsu had given him almost two weeks before. In it there was a tree. It wasn’t a particular small design; he was planning on it occupying most of the inside of his left leg, from the ankle to the knee, after all. It wasn’t fancy either; Hajime didn’t think he’d suit one of those. But it was still detailed. You could clearly see the roots, the branches, the leaves… there was even a small flower against the trunk. It looked like everything he wanted and he would never be able to thank Matsu enough for it and that was why he’d been looking so carefully for the best artist in town.

“It looks amazing.” The guy spent several seconds looking at it in silence before raising his brilliant eyes to Hajime. “Does it have a meaning?”

“I-“

“Wait!” He was blushing, “you don’t have to answer. Like I said before, it’s a personal-“

“It’s fine,” Hajime stopped him quietly because he felt like sharing it. Anyway, he’d told most of his friends and they’d called him poetic and what not, but he still liked the tree. He wanted to see what the guy thought of it too. “It symbolizes life. All of it. You have the little flower here,” he put his finger on the paper, “meaning birth and then you have the leaves and the birds here,” he moved his finger to the right of the paper, “to symbolize living and here,” he moved to the left side, where the tree was naked, “symbolizes death. My friends think that’s creepy but…” He shrugged, suddenly feeling embarrassed, “you can’t value life without acknowledging death,” he finished a bit lamely.

The guy looked at him for several seconds and then raised his left arm, turning it so that his palm was up and showing the inside of it. There was a black crow on his wrist, detailed like he’d never seen before. It looked… sad, almost. Hajime couldn’t explain it, but it felt like a lonely animal. He looked at the guy, who was sending him a smile.

“Most people consider crows a dark omen but I always saw them as smart animals. They knew death was coming, you know? And they didn’t ran from it, instead they went right after it. Except they didn’t fight it, either. They just… accepted it.” He shrugged, blushing, “My friends think it’s creepy too.”

“No, it’s… it’s beautiful.”

The guy smiled and yeah, okay, Hajime was possibly (most certainly) feeling the beginnings of a crush approaching.

He wanted to say what he’d thought, about how it looked like a lonely animal but right above the crow there was a sun, a small thing, not as detailed as the crow, in fact it almost looked based on a child’s drawing, and he decided to keep quiet.

“I think Kozume-san would be the best for what you want. Of course, everyone else could do it too but he’d be really careful about drawing everything you want. Although it might take several sessions.”

“That’s fine,” Hajime immediately said.

“Great!” The guy was smiling and God, he had dimples. He took a book from somewhere on the desk and opened it. After searching for some seconds, he looked up. “How about two pm on Monday, the 22nd?”

“That sounds great.”

The guy smiled again and grabbed a pen. “What’s your name?”

“Iwaizumi Hajime.”

The guy wrote his name carefully and then grabbed a small piece of paper from a pile close to the computer. He extended his hand to Hajime. “This is Kozume-san’s email. Just send him the image so that he can start thinking about it.”

Hajime grabbed it and almost felt sorry that their fingers didn’t linger in the touch.

“Thank you,” he said.

“No problem. Hope to see you soon,” then he quickly continued, “but if you don’t want to, that’s fine too! You shouldn’t feel forced to have a tattoo. That’s why we don’t ask for deposits. Although you seem very decided; that’s an amazing design. But like I said, you can change your mind!”

“Thank you,” Hajime replied, with a little smile. Really, where had they found this guy?

He knew he should leave but… He might just need to find another parlour after this, but he was never one to run from challenges.

“Can I know your name?”

“Yeah! I’m Kageyama Tobio,” he gave a little bow, “it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure’s all mine,” Hajime gave him another smile, this time a small one, but more honest, and then had the pleasure of seeing the guy, Kageyama, blush at it.

They kept silent like that for some seconds, but suddenly the phone rang, making them both jump. Kageyama looked at it, not immediately going for it. Then he looked at Hajime, with a serious look.

“I get off at six. If you wanted to, like, have dinner. Just so I can talk to you more about Kozume-san… or something,” by the end he was a blushing mess and the phone just kept ringing.

“I’ll be here. Maybe you can tell me about the rest of your tattoos.”

Kageyama continued to blush and nodded. “I have to answer this.”

“Of course. I’ll see you later,” and giving a little wave, he walked out.

On the street, he looked back inside, finding Kageyama already on the phone, but sending little glances at the window every few moments.

Hajime smiled to himself and finally started walking away. He hadn’t just found a tattooist but a date too. Personally, he had no idea which part he was the most happy about.


End file.
